The pair — Patricia Lundstrom, D-Gallup, and Doreen Gallegos, D-Las Cruces — both had ties to the alcohol industry and afterwards, Cadena took the unusual step of speaking out against what she perceived as her colleagues’ conflicts of interest.
During an interim committee hearing in October, Cadena seemed more determined, and said her duty as a lawmaker “is to our people, not to the alcohol lobbyist or industry or what they determine or decide.”
Lundstrom, on the other hand, remained unconvinced. McKinley County, which she represents and which has long struggled with high rates of alcohol dependency, is allowed to tax alcohol 5%, which she said was “a good thing.” But she was skeptical of imposing such measures statewide. “I’m not going to add more taxes on to McKinley County if I don’t see a clear path,” she said.
At last weekend’s town hall, when Parajón was asked whether the new bill had a better chance of passing the committee, she hedged. “I can’t really speak to how representatives are going to vote, especially when a new bill is brought forward.”
There is a precedent for adding a 3% sales tax: Maryland did exactly that 2011. In the years that followed, multiple studies found the change reduced alcohol–related harms.
At the town hall, another bill sponsor Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, D-Albuquerque, acknowledged the lawmakers had lowered their ambitions as they sought a bill they could pass. On a $2 beer at a convenience store, for example a 3% tax comes to little more than a nickel.
“How many of you would support paying five cents for a drink?” she asked the audience, who responded with a round of applause.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention long ranked New Mexico’s alcohol-related death rate the highest in the nation but it no longer does — because last year the Trump administration dissolved the agency’s alcohol unit, and disbanded its staff.
New Mexico Health Department communications coordinator David Barre said states were sharing data with each other to make such comparisons, “but it’s a work in progress.”
